After the War
by LPlover93
Summary: When the war is over, the hero is missing. Where is he? Harry/Hermione. Slightly Angsty. Written for the Fandom against Famine compilation.


A/N:-Thanks loads to my dear beta slash wifey CrazySue05 for betaing this fic for me. Love you loads! Hope you enjoy my second attempt writing Harry Potter fanfiction. Thanks to AshesAtMidnight for providing me with certain Australian info. *smiles at my two fave girls*

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"Where is Harry Potter?" was the only question on everyone's mind as they searched for their beacon of light to hug. They wanted to cheer for him as the only person who was so much younger than them, but still gave up his childhood and innocence to save them from the dark. He deserved so much more than a cheer. In fact, the crowds were betting on the highest title he would ask for. Some said he would ask for the Minister of Magic title. Some had bet almost half of their savings that he would ask for the head of the Wizengamot. Those who were too poor to bet, but too weak to survive another Dark Lord hoped that he wouldn't turn out to be another Voldemort in disguise; like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Rather a snake in lion's clothing. The status quo of most of the people's thoughts was not that dissimilar to Snape's usual thoughts. _Harry is arrogant, he only cares about himself, he stays aloof of people because he thinks he is too good for them, he wants loads of popularity as he already has the money from his dead parents, blah, blah, blah._

The Weasleys were equally confused. According to them, if the war ended, and if fortunately, Harry was alive, they would have a Weasley-worthy party wherever they were staying. And, if God forbid, if he succumbed to his injuries, they would be the ones to bury his body as they were not just his surrogate family, but his only family at the moment. But even they had no idea about Harry's whereabouts. He wasn't in the arms of Ginny, which shocked them; but they had no idea what was actually going on with him.

Ginny knew what was going through the minds of her family but did not try to correct their opinions. She was the only one who knew the truth. And it was a beautiful one at that. However, she knew that her mom and her elder brother; one in particular, would be quite incensed if they found out, so she kept her mouth figuratively zipped close, and waited for them to come back so she could give them a hug, no matter which way the situation had gone.

**In Sydney,Australia,**

A girl could not stop crying as her best friend held on to her. He was frightened that she might faint of shock and he was helpless as to what to do. He didn't have much experience in this, as the first time he was too young, the second time he was too isolated, the third time he was too determined, the fourth time, he was compelled to win the war first. This boy had never been able to actually spend some quality time and mourn for them. But this much he knew, he had to provide some comfort to her, stat. He hugged her, thinking of how the first time they met at the park and she tried to hug him, he had shied away and now the tables had turned.

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PARK?

Oh yeah, some of the information given to the public was censored, hidden, concealed, covered, obscured, whatever high and fancy word you want to use, the meaning was the same. As such, let's show you exactly what happened.

**SEPTEMBER 19, 1987**

_ A very young girl, probably, six or seven was sitting on the swings in the park which was directly opposite to her mom's clinic. Her mom had promised her an ice cream, which was a pretty big thing for the sweet little girl as her mom was a dentist and usually didn't like her eating any kind of sweet, whether it be dessert or chocolate or even slurpies. She tried to swing herself, but then stopped, remembering what had happened last time; she had kicked off too hard, and fell off the swings. Well, not today! She had no obligation to fall down on her birthday and she knew the meaning of obligation, thank you very much. _

_ Her mom also said that they would have a birthday party, till the girl had to sadly tell her mom that no one wanted to come to her house, not even for free cake. Her mom had hugged her and told her that children are very immature and when they grew up, they would realize what a gem she is. But why couldn't they see that now? She wanted some friends to play with. And then she saw a shadow loom in front of her._

_ "Hey, Buck-tooth Hermy, what are you doing on the ground? Telling God thank you for letting a ugly girl like you come to Earth?" This boy had the worstsmile on his face, she wanted to cry, but she promised her mom she wouldn't cry, but her eyes had water coming out of it, but…_

_ "__**Hey!**__ Stop that! Didn't your mom tell you that pretty girls should never be insulted? Get away from her right now!" A small boy, looking younger than her but with anger in his eyes, had his fists out, ready to get into a fight for a girl he didn't even know._

_ "Or what, pipsqueak?" The menacing boy just smirked at the small boy and got his fists out too. Then he suddenly stopped, shocked and looked at his pants. A wet stain was appearing on the centre of his fronts and then a bird flew from above and it's shit just so happened to fall on the evil boy. He could only cry and run away. The small boy and the birthday girl looked at each other, shy smiles on their faces. The former was afraid for having overstepped boundaries while the latter didn't know how to thank him. She then decided to take the initiative and went to hug him. He flinched as she hugged him, but didn't push her away, as it felt… nice. _

_She said," My name is Hermione…" just as he said," My name is Harry." And then out of nowhere, a third voice came in," And my name is Albus." Harry looked at the third person and rubbed his eyes. Then rubbed them again. This person looked like a mixture of someone's grandfather and Merlin. He was wearing a midnight blue gown (weren't gowns for girls?) and had a stick in his hand. He was speaking and Harry tuned in again as he was saying," …so happy that Harry was able to stop that boy from bullying you. But as such, I cannot allow this friendship to continue. You see, he is a special boy and in the future, he has to make the friendships I want him to make if he is to succeed in life. You may think I am mad for telling you all this, but as such I have magic in my hands, literally. So I can tell you anything now and make you forget it later. And now I can see that Mr. Potter is listening to what we are saying. I will be erasing your memory right now, as your first experience with me should be that of a grandfather, not a friend-remover." _

_Harry realized that this was one of the people who had the "freakiness" in them, according to Uncle Vernon. He prayed and prayed and prayed to God," God, you saved me from the boys by making me fly, you got me in trouble but made me laugh by turning the teacher's hair blue, now please, please don't let me forget my first friend ever!" And maybe God wasn't listening, but Fate sure was. And as Harry had been dealt such a poor hand in his life, she decided to help him. As the old man started to shout "OBLIVIATE!" she basically covered Harry's brain with her virtual hands so there was no memory to erase. Finally, what had happened was that Hermione had lost all memory of him helping her and them becoming friends, while Harry was secretly crying, having lost the first friend he had ever had._

**Back to the PRESENT**

And after that, it was crazy not being able to tell Hermione that he had met her before, that they lived really close to each other before, that she looked cute, even when she was crying. He knew he couldn't tell her the truth at least till the war was over or they graduated from school. He knew that Snape could apparently read his mind, and he did not want Hermione subjected to any kind of mind probing. She was thoroughly depressed and disgusted at herself that she could not keep tabs on her mom and dad. This was slightly, well a lot irrational as basically the three of them were on the run and she couldn't exactly talk to them. They were travelling from Sydney to Brisbane when there was a car accident on the Pacific highway, the road they were travelling on. They could not be saved and Hermione was suffering from survivor's guilt. She thought that if she had known immediately she could have saved them by magic. This is why he chose this time to tell her.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"Just thought you should know, we met when we were seven."

"Hmm…okay…what?"

"Uh, I was walking along the road when some boys were teasing you, so I came and shouted at them."

"Then why don't I remember any of it?"

"Because Dumbledore is a bastard."

"Huh?"

"He somehow realized I was making friends with you and came and obliviated us. However it didn't happen to me."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because now is when no one can forbid us from loving each other. That and your parents had spoken to me that day."

**Back to September, 1987**

_Two people, a man and a woman came out. Both of them were wearing glasses and had slightly bushy hair. They spoke directly to Harry," We saw you supporting our daughter today. We don't know why, but she doesn't seem to recognize you now. However we will never forget you as you have been the kind of friend we have always wanted for our princess Hermione. Hopefully you will remember her, even if she doesn't remember you."_

**Back to Present**

"And that is why your parents were shocked when they first saw me on the platform of Nine and Three Quarters. Not because they recognized me from the books you read before coming to Hogwarts, but because they remembered me as the boy who had saved you, from the insults of the other boy." Hermione could only hug the boy who had saved her from the taunts of a kid in her childhood and who left the cheers from the world to help her bury her parents.

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Hope you liked it. Now please, pretty please review and make me feel all happy, happy inside, please? *pouts*


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